


a change in the rhythm

by lostin_space



Series: Time After Time 2020❤️️ [6]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Loneliness, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Outer Space, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: Michael has been raised by an AI since he was born without ever being around another person. That's about to change.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Time After Time 2020❤️️ [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699378
Comments: 23
Kudos: 70
Collections: Time After Time: A Roswell New Mexico Alternate Era AU Event





	a change in the rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> this is a little wonky on the moral side of things but it's okay. it's slightly inspired by the movie I Am Mother  
> day 7 of time after time: future setting!

Michael liked movies.

Truly, that was the only time he got to see people that looked like him. They all had hair and skin and talked with their mouths‒wasn’t that so cool? He’d never seen another real person in his whole life. Sometimes he had dreams of what it might be like to be in one of his movies. To have strong soldiers sweep him off his feet or have a pretty ladies to kiss in the rain or a group of friends to help him through the trials and tribulations of life. Or maybe just one friend. It’d be a lie to say he hadn’t wondered what a hug felt like.

But that wasn’t really an option. Mother was strict. The outside space was unsafe, uninhabitable. He couldn’t even think of a reason to argue with her though because why else would he be there in the first place? He  _ had  _ to have been put there by another person like him before, even if he was a baby when it happened. This was where it was safe. In all the time that he’d been in here, before and after he was in his pod, no one had come. That was at least 18 years proof that it wasn’t safe.

“Have you finished your meal?” Mother asked, her system rolling into the kitchen area. He remembered when he was young, he’d gotten very upset when he saw the way houses looked in movies. He wanted a kitchen too. So they made one.

“Yes,” he said.

“Good. Time for school.”

His mornings went like this: he woke up early, had his first meal while watching a movie, and then did school for four hours. He’d picked up things quickly with not much else to do and, for the last little while, he’d been working on studying mechanical engineering. That, for the most part, was easy. He already worked on most of the stuff on his home, even helping Mother tinker with any accidentally rusty parts.

After school, he had his second meal and then it was time for self-defense. He never really knew why he needed to know how to fight, but he never questioned it. He was good at it and he liked the way it made him feel. 

Later, he would wind down with more movies. Technically, they had a limited supply and it was whatever the real people who put him here had given him. There were fifty different ones, all black and white, and Michael had memorized them all. Sometimes he wanted more. A few years prior, he’d wanted to make his own so they did. So, technically, he had fifty-one.

Then he’d have his last meal, a shower, and then he’d go to sleep. That was it, day in and day out. Every once in a while, Mother would let him do something different, but not often. She said the routine was good for him and, well, she knew better than he did.

Sometimes, though, after she’d shut down for the night, Michael would sneak out of his bunk and go see his pod. He had to be careful not to set off any of the signals that she had around his bunk‒he’d learned that the hard way. Over the years, though, he’d gotten quite good at it.

Because pods, on top of being safe spaces, also gave their owner amplified telepathy. In theory, if someone was near, he could let them know where he was. Mother kept it away from him so he would never get his hopes up, but it was hard. He  _ wanted  _ someone else, someone who was like him, someone who wasn’t made of metal. Just one more person. Just one.

His pod was hidden in a room that was on a completely different level of his home, hidden behind a door that required him to know how to dismantle the computer that locked it. He did that easily this night, slipping into the room and going towards the glow of the pod. He rested his hands on it and closed his eyes, doing his best to reach out to anyone who might hear. He knew that no one would, but, deep down, he begged. He reached for them.

It wasn’t that he was unhappy with Mother or ungrateful for all that she’d done. It was simply that he was lonely. She couldn’t be mad at him for being lonely.

Like every other time, though, Michael didn’t feel anyone else and it further confirmed that he was the only one left.

He went to sleep trying not to let that fact hurt as much as it did.

-

Michael woke up to the sound of alarms ringing.

He didn’t know how to react, fear seeping into his bloodstream as he looked around. He didn’t see Mother and he didn’t hear her and that was even more scary. She was always right there when something happened. Always.

Nonetheless, he did as he was taught. He jumped out of his bunk and quickly ran down the hall to find his closet, slipping inside and hiding behind his clothes. In a small box behind them were his dagger which he retrieved and held tight. Perhaps this was a test, Mother was making sure he could protect himself in case something bad happened. Hopefully, this was a test.

Michael waited for what seemed like hours, but probably wasn’t nearly that long, listening to the alarm and waiting to hear Mother coming for him. He was prepared to protect himself and then to accept the praise that came with it.

Only, he didn’t hear that. He heard  _ footsteps.  _ Mother didn’t have those.

“The pod is empty but active, so we have the right place,” a man’s voice said, “The Last Antarian has to be around here somewhere.”

“And Manes is handling the AI?”

“Manes? I’m Manes.”

“...the only Manes that can dismantle an AI, our captain, your brother?”

“Just call him the Bloody Baby so I know who the hell you’re talking about.”

“You know he answers to that less than he’ll answer to Captain.”

“He should’ve thought about that before he slaughtered half of the Pax Intelligence at 16 and then got promoted.”

“Just find the Antarian,  _ Manes _ .”

Michael felt his blood run cold, bracing himself for what was going to happen as he heard things being slammed as they searched. Searched for  _ him.  _ For a moment, he wondered if this was why Mother kept the pod away from him. She was scared he would alert the wrong people.

And here the wrong people were.

He held his breath as they got closer, preparing himself to fight back until he couldn’t. He could do this. He could do this.  _ He could do this.  _

All too quickly, the closet door swung open and they moved the clothes away.

"Prince Michael, we're here to rescu-"

Michael lunged. He used his daggers recklessly, swinging and hitting anything he could. There were four men, all bigger than him, so he had to do his best. He got at least one solid slash on three of them before they grabbed him by each limb, bitching as he squirmed in an attempt to be let free.

He wanted someone. This wasn’t what he meant.

“Let go of me!” Michael spat, wriggling as best he could. 

“He speaks English?” one of them said in bewilderment.

“Does it fucking matter? He stabbed me!” another one said. 

“If you stop fighting, we will let go of you!” the one who wasn’t hurt said. Michael didn’t stop.

“We have to sedate him!” the oldest announced.

Before Michael could register much, he was being stabbed in the chest with a long needle and almost immediately passed out.

-

“Get out.”

“You can’t just lock us out of the miss‒”

“I can and I already have. You seem to be forgetting that I’m your captain. Get out, Flint. When he wakes up, the last thing he needs to see is your ugly ass.”

A door closed, officially reminding Michael what had happened. He startled awake, immediately jumping to defend himself only to see he was on a large bed with his ankle chained to it. A whole new kind of dread filled him as he looked around to see who else was there. It was just one other person: a baby faced man with long, dark braided hair, skin too tan to be from someone who was inside all the time, and warm eyes. His hands were at his side calmly, showing that he had no weapon. His outfit… Well, it was all black, but the garments themselves made no sense to Michael. It covered him well enough on the bottom, but a good portion of his arms and chest could easily be seen. He was beautiful. 

“Forgive me for having you chained, but you did stab three of my men and I figured you would wake up just as feisty,” he said, giving a smile that matched some of the movies he’d seen. Like it was meant to be kind. It made Michael feel exposed. “You can call me Alex. Hopefully we can be friends.”

“Where is Mother?” Michael demanded. Alex, Captain, the  _ Bloody Baby,  _ looked confused as he walked closer. The closer he got, the more Michael felt scared. He was in control of bad guys, so he had to be a bad guy. Why couldn’t Michael meet someone that looked like him who  _ wasn’t  _ a bad guy? 

“Mother?” he repeated, “The old AI, you mean? It’s programmed to be maternal? Well, that would explain why it put up a fight.” 

“Mother,” Michael reinforced, “Where is she?”

“That’s what you want to know? Of all the things, you want to know about the robot that held you captive for your entire life?” Alex asked. Michael glared the best he could and Alex held up his hands in submission. “She’s dismantled, but, if you really care, I can work on her later so she can help you acclimate.”

“Acclimate?” Michael repeated.

Alex came closer, sitting on the bed as well. Micheal moved as far away from him as he could. He didn’t come any closer.

“I don’t know how much you know, so I’ll just fill you in on the crucial details. Hundreds of years ago, a civil war was wiping out the Antarian people. That’s what you are. There was a legend that the infant Antarian prince was put on a ship for his safety and launched into the depths of space, but there were no facts. This was simply legend, you see, passed down from the few Antarian refugees who survived. This prince was said to be the most powerful being in the galaxy, but no one was sure he was real. Until two weeks ago, when I saw your little telepathic  _ ping  _ on my radar.

“I kept it to myself, I thought it was a fluke or maybe a different species, but then last week that little ping showed up again and I knew it wasn’t a mistake. So I alerted my home planet that I’d found something. Regardless of who you were, it was a rescue mission. No living being is meant to be alone like that, but I wanted to keep it to my crew until I knew for sure who you were. And, after the blood test, I know for sure,” Alex filled in, giving him that same warm smile, “Welcome to civilization, Prince Michael.”

Michael couldn’t make sense of what he was being told. That didn’t sound right. That sounded like a lie. He wasn’t powerful, he wasn’t a prince, he wasn’t special. 

“That’s not me,” Michael insisted, “I’m just Michael. I don’t have any powers. I want Mother.”

Alex nodded. “And I’ll get her for you soon, I just have to fix her up a bit, alright? And you do have powers, you just don’t know it yet. We found strong traces of Sulfaparinmycin in your system. It seems Mother has been suppressing your powers since you left your pod.”

That didn’t make sense either. Why would she do that and still teach him to fight? If he had powers, wouldn’t she want him to be able to protect himself to the best of his ability?

“Hey, listen, I know you’re scared, but I’m here to answer any question you have, alright?” Alex promised, “We’re friends here.” 

“That man who grabbed me first, he said you were called the Bloody Baby. You’re a bad man,” Michael told him. Alex flinched just a little, removing himself from the bed.

“Right,” he sighed, “That’s true, somewhat. I  _ was  _ a bad man. I was told from a young age that people who were even slightly a threat needed to be killed and I got good at that, but I learned that that isn’t the way to live. I stopped as soon as I heard someone call me that name, even though it led to me getting my status as Captain. But, I promise, I’m not that way, you’re safe.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“That’s alright, I haven’t given you a reason to,” Alex agreed. Still, Michael eyed him. “But I plan to earn that trust. I spoke to my home planet and alerted your retrieval, but I’m not sending you there. Instead, you’ll stay here where I can bring Mother back to help you, and I’m having an Antarian descendant come to help you learn to work your powers. Once you adjust, you can decide what you want to do. This isn’t forever.” 

Alex pulled a key from his clothing, making sure he saw it before he came closer to unlock the cuff around his ankle. The warm hand on his leg sent chills up his spine. When he’d fought those men, it hadn’t given him a moment to really think about the fact that it was another person, but now he could. He was  _ warm. _

Michael realized that, while this wasn’t ideal, if Alex was telling the truth, then he might get what he wanted. Companionship. Kisses. A hug. He could meet someone and understand what it was like to be with someone. Just like in the movies, he just had to be nice to him.

“You’re warm,” he said out loud after Alex freed him.

“I’m sorry?” Alex asked, laughing softly. Michael folded his legs beneath himself and tried to relax as best he could as he reached towards Alex with both hands. He looked confused but stepped a bit closer. “I don’t know what you’re asking for, Prince Michael.”

Michael leaned forward and grabbed his arm, pulling it into his space. He was scarred all over, but he was real. He was  _ real.  _ Michael let out a helpless little laugh, extending his fingers and touching each one. Then he did like what he saw in the movies, putting his hand up Alex’s so they were flat against each other and it became so clear that he was similar.

“Wow,” Michael breathed.

“You got over your fear quickly,” Alex noted. Michael shook his head.

“The movies say you have to be nice,” he explained. He realized he wasn’t very nice when he stabbed those men, but they weren’t very nice by coming in unannounced. It felt a bit even now.

“Movies, huh?” Alex asked, “You had movies?”

“That’s all I had,” Michael explained.

“I see,” Alex said, shifting his hand just a little to lace his fingers with his. Michael’s eyes widened involuntarily and he gasped, marveling at how they fit together. Alex laughed. That was even more beautiful. Perhaps he was closer to the men he'd seen in his dreams, the strong soldiers who rescued him. Maybe this was a rescue after all.

"This is beautiful," Michael told him, making sure he really understood how amazing it was that their hands fit like that. Alex kept smiling, warm and fond.

"I think I'm going to really enjoy having you around if you see everything that way," Alex said. Michael nodded. He couldn't deny it, he probably would. This amazing thing was so easy, he couldn't even imagine all the bigger amazing things that could happen.

"I think you will."

“How about we go see what kind of movies we have? Maybe I have something you haven’t seen, a little bit newer, to help you get caught up to the rest of the galaxy.” 

“Really?” Michael asked, feeling more than a little eager to see something new. Alex nodded and tugged on his hand a bit, gesturing for him to get off the bed. When he did, he noticed that one of the legs Alex was standing on was metal. "You're metal like Mother?"

"No," Alex said with a soft laugh, "This comes off. It's to help me walk."

"Can I see it come off? I like things made of metal."

"Not right now," Alex told him, "Maybe later."

Michael complied, more sure now than ever that Alex truly was that soldier in his dreams.

“Come, I’ll give you a tour.”

Alex kept a hold of his hand as he led him out of the room, showing him around the ship. Everything was so much different, so new, so foreign. He was mesmerized. And, sure enough, Alex did answer any question he had. It was so strange, but he couldn’t even hide his excitement. 

Even when the went back to the room after he was tired from all the new stuff, they put on a new movie. It was all so…  _ good. _

Maybe he really would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
